Making a difference Outcomes of ARC supported research 2017–18
THE AUSTRALIAN RESEARCH COUNCIL The Australian Research Council (ARC) is a Commonwealth entity within the Australian Government. The ARC’s purpose is to grow knowledge and innovation for the benefit of the Australian community through funding the highest quality research, assessing the quality, engagement and impact of research and providing advice on research matters. The ARC funds research and researchers under the National Competitive Grants Program (NCGP). The NCGP consists of two elements—Discovery and Linkage. Within these elements are a range of schemes structured to provide a pathway of incentives for researchers to build the scope and scale of their work and collaborative partnerships. The majority of funding decisions under the NCGP are made on the basis of peer review. The ARC evaluates the quality of research undertaken in higher education institutions through the Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA) program. ERA is an established evaluation framework that identifies research excellence in Australian higher education institutions by comparing Australia’s research effort against international benchmarks. ERA assesses quality using a combination of indicators and expert review by research evaluation committees. The ARC is also responsible for developing and implementing an Engagement and Impact (EI) assessment, announced by the Australian Government in December 2015 as part of the National Innovation and Science Agenda (NISA), which assesses the engagement of researchers with end-users, and shows how universities are translating their research into economic, social, environmental and other impacts.
ISSN - 2209-6000 (Print) Published: August 2018 The Australian Research Council acknowledges the Traditional Owners and custodians of Country throughout Australia and their continuing connection to land, waters and community. We pay our respects to them, their cultures and Elders past, present and future. Please note: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people should be aware that this publication may contain names and images of deceased persons. © Commonwealth of Australia 2018 All material presented on this website is provided under a CC Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) licence with the exception of the Commonwealth Coat of Arms, the Australian Research Council (ARC) logo, images, signatures and where otherwise stated. The details of the relevant licence conditions are available on the Creative Commons website as is the full legal code for the CC Attribution BY-NC-ND 4.0 licence. Front cover image: Aerial drone flying over wheat field. Image credit: The University of South Australia. Inside cover image: Saltmarsh wetland. Image credit: The University of Newcastle. Back cover image: Songlines are the ways of passing on knowledge from Nation to Nation right across the continent. Minyari artists camp (front from left) May Wokka Chapman, Thelma Judson, Mulyatingki Marney, Karen Rogers, Ngalangka Nola Taylor, Nancy Martu Jakulyukulyu (back) Renelle Simpson, Rachael Handley. National Museum of Australia Photo: Rebecca Dagna.
FOREWORD On behalf of the Australian Research Council (ARC), I am pleased to share with you the 2017–18 edition of Making a difference—Outcomes of ARC supported research . Now in its second year, this publication is intended as a snapshot—just a glimpse—of the extensive outcomes that arise from the diverse research being carried out across the country, with the support of the Australian Government through the funding schemes of the ARC’s National Competitive Grants Program (NCGP). Through the NCGP, the ARC supports high-quality fundamental and applied research and research training. ARC fellowships and grants are awarded to eligible organisations to support individuals and teams to undertake research projects and collaborations, participate in cooperative initiatives and establish large-scale research hubs and centres Under the funding schemes of the NCGP, we support research covering all disciplines—from the humanities and social sciences (HASS) disciplines through to the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) disciplines 1 . We also support researchers across all career stages, from early career researchers embarking on their careers to established and esteemed researchers who are leading the country, and indeed the world. Every day, we are impressed by the fascinating stories of innovation, discovery and collaboration involving ARC-funded researchers. Whether it is a three-year Discovery Project, a four-year Future Fellowship, or a seven-year ARC Centre of Excellence, the tangible benefits of ARC-funded research are clearly visible.
Image: Professor Sue Thomas Image credit: Norman Plant Photography
By sharing just a handful of these research stories and outcomes, we hope to convey the importance . and impact of ARC-funded research—remarkable research that is delivering social, cultural, economic and environmental benefits and really making a difference to all Australians. These stories emphasise the immense value of publicly-funded research in Australia, and are sure to engage and inspire the wider community.
Professor Sue Thomas Chief Executive Officer Australian Research Council
1 Clinical and other medical research is primarily supported by the National Health and Medical Research Council.
CONTENTS
Understanding our world and translating fundamental research 6 EXPLORING VISION IN ANIMALS 7 VIRTUAL PLANT CELL EXPLORES THE INNER WORLD OF A PLANT 8 ARC CENTRE OF EXCELLENCE CONTRIBUTES TO INTERNATIONAL EFFORT IN GRAVITATIONAL SCIENCE 10 SCIENTISTS ONE STEP CLOSER TO UNDERSTANDING WHY NERVES DEGENERATE 11 BREAKTHROUGH TECHNIQUE DEVELOPED TO MAKE ULTRA-THIN METAL OXIDES
Working with industry and generating economic impacts 15 RESEARCHERS HELPING RASPBERRY FARMERS TO IMPROVE YIELD AND QUALITY 16 RESEARCHERS GROW WORLD-FIRST PANAMA DISEASE-RESISTANT BANANAS 17 UNLOCKING THE FOOD VALUE CHAIN 18 WORLD-FIRST TECHNOLOGY TO SIMPLIFY COMMERCIAL PRODUCTION OF ROCK LOBSTERS 21 LOW COST PRECISION AGRICULTURE FOR AUSSIE FARMERS
Developing innovative technologies THE FUTURE OF 24 ROBOTICS—SEEING AND UNDERSTANDING SUPERLASER TO SAFEGUARD 25 AUSTRALIA NEW NANOMA TERIALS OPEN 26 THE DOOR FOR INNOVATIONS STRETCHABLE METAL OXIDE 27 FILMS HERALD A REVOLUTION IN WEARABLE ELECTRONICS 28 SHARK-DETERRENT SURFBOARDS
Striving for educational and social outcomes 48 RESEARCH INCREASES FOSTER CARER PLACEMENTS 49 SHINING A LIGHT ON THE INVISIBLE FARMER 50 BIG DATA AND SOCIAL MEDIA—IMPACTS ON VERY YOUNG CHILDREN 51 HELPING CHILDREN WITH AUTISM REACH THEIR FULL POTENTIAL 52 DESIGNING THE CLASSROOMS TO MATCH 21ST CENTURY TEACHING Improving health and well-being 56 STAPLE CEREAL GRAIN TO HELP BATTLE CHRONIC DISEASE 57 REVOLUTIONARY SILK MEMBRANES TO REPAIR PERFORATED EARDRUMS 58 LIGHT THERAPY PROVIDING RELIEF FOR TROUBLED SLEEP PATTERNS IN TEENS 59 AN IDEAL WAY FOR AUSTRALIA TO LEAD THE WORLD IN BIOPHOTONICS 60 AUSTRALIA’S LIFE SCIENTIST OF THE YEAR DELVES DEEP INTO THE MYSTERIES OF HERITABILITY
Advancing environmental science and management 32 PRESERVING MAMMALS IN NORTHERN AUSTRALIAN SAVANNAHS 33 CENTRE OF EXCELLENCE HARNESSING THE POWER OF WARM CLIMATE CROPS 34 RESEARCHERS UNCOVER MERCURY CONTAMINATION RISK 35 RESEARCHERS WORKING TO PROTECT OUR WETLANDS 36 NEW MICROBE CAPABILITY UNCOVERED IN ANTARCTIC CONDITIONS Supporting Indigenous research 40 INDIGENOUS EAR HEALTH AND PHONOLOGICAL AWARENESS 41 THE STORY OF OUTBACK NATIVE MOUNTED POLICE 42 SONGLINES—TRACKING THE SEVEN SISTERS 44 REIGNITING THE NOONGAR LANGUAGE THROUGH SONG 45 UNCOVERING A NEW HISTORY OF AUSTRALIAN HABITATION
Research leadership 64 ARC AUSTRALIAN LAUREATE FELLOWS MENTORING FEMALE AND EARLY CAREER RESEARCHERS 67 ARC AUSTRALIAN LAUREATE FELLOW LAUNCHES SENSORY SCIENTIFIC EXHIBITION AND DISCOVERY DAY ARC scheme information 68 DISCOVERY PROGRAM 69 LINKAGE PROGRAM
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: Outcomes of ARC supported research | TRANSLATING FUNDAMENTAL RESEARCH 5 6 EXPLORING VISION IN ANIMALS 7 VIRTUAL PLANT CELL EXPLORES THE INNER WORLD OF A PLANT 8 ARC CENTRE OF EXCELLENCE CONTRIBUTES TO INTERNATIONAL EFFORT IN GRAVITATIONAL SCIENCE 10 ONE STEP CLOSER TO UNDERSTANDING WHY NERVES DEGENERATE 11 BREAKTHROUGH TECHNIQUE DEVELOPED TO MAKE ULTRA-THIN METAL OXIDES UNDERSTANDING OUR WORLD AND Making a Difference Making a Difference : Outcomes of ARC supported research | 5 5
Image: The Virtual Plant Cell uses virtual reality technology to engage the community in plant science and connect audiences to plant energy biology research. Images credit: Plant Energy Biology. Photographer: James Campbell.
Exploring vision in animals
bioluminescence and, perhaps surprisingly, many invertebrates such as mantis shrimps have more complex colour vision than humans. The research team recently discovered complex colour vision in deep-sea fish, opening a new world of understanding vision in a variety of light conditions. They are also working on brains and vision in cephalopods such as squid, cuttlefish and the blue-ringed octopus. The results challenge the standing paradigm of the function and evolution of vertebrate visual systems.
Researchers at the Queensland Brain Institute, based at The University of Queensland and led by ARC Australian Laureate Fellow, Professor Justin Marshall, have advanced our understanding of how animals see and use colour and colour patterns to sense the world, and how their colour vision has evolved. From this, we can also learn about how this might apply to humans. Earlier studies by the team explored the great variation of the role that colour plays across animal species, based on factors such as environment (for example for camouflage, warning and for reproduction), physical factors (for example, toxicity and light availability), and whether an animal is either the predator or the prey. The research provides insight into how a variety of animals use colours that are invisible to the human eye, such as ultraviolet light. Some animals use biological phenomena such as fluorescence,
Image: The blue-ringed octopus (Hapalochlaena sp.) is predated by stomatopod crustaceans (mantis shrimp). All octopus, including blue-ringed octopuses, are colour blind, while mantis shrimps possess four times as many colour channels as humans. The blue-ring’s colours evolved to warn other species that can see the colour contrast of their rings. Image credit: Roy Caldwell.
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Virtual plant cell explores the inner world of a plant
: Outcomes of ARC supported research | To engage the wider community in their fundamental understanding of the world, the ARC Centre of Excellence in Plant Energy Biology has created a number of targeted education, training and outreach programs, aimed at schools, farmers, teachers, universities, science museums, field days, careers festivals and even pubs. Image: The Virtual Plant Cell uses virtual reality technology to engage the community in plant science and connect audiences to plant energy biology research. Image credit: Plant Energy Biology. Photographer: James Campbell. 7 Researchers from the ARC Centre of Excellence toured festivals around Australia during National Science Week 2016 and 2017 using VPC to connect the community with plant biotechnology and the real-world agricultural challenges being addressed through research. Pioneering VPC classroom activities are being used to engage students in plant science and instil a passion for plant research. Outreach that creates positive public dialogue about science is an important activity of the ARC Centre of Excellence, to give Australians a better understanding of the importance of plants and their amazing ability to capture, convert and use energy. The ARC Centre of Excellence in Plant Energy Biology , led by Professor Harvey Millar at The University of Western Australia, is making its world-class research more accessible to the general public through the innovative use of virtual reality. The Virtual Plant Cell (VPC) lets people explore the sub-microscopic inner world of a plant in an immersive way. Public audiences get the opportunity to interact with a plant cell and learn about complex processes studied by local scientists.
ARC Centre of Excellence contributes to international effort in gravitational science The new ARC Centre of Excellence for Gravitational Wave Discovery (OzGrav), based at Swinburne University of Technology, is already making significant discoveries, with researchers at the ARC Centre of Excellence announcing their involvement in the detection of gravitational waves from the death spiral of two neutron stars in October 2017. For the first time, scientists measured the violent death spiral of two dense neutron stars via gravitational waves, and observed the subsequent fireball appear in the heavens. Never before have we known exactly where in the Universe gravitational waves originate from, or been able to see the colossal events that created them.
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: Outcomes of ARC supported research | Image: OzSTAR supercomputer: Data-driven discovery and high performance computing. Image courtesy: ARC Centre of Excellence for Gravitational Wave Discovery. 9 researchers and the LIGO-Virgo collaboration; and followed the joint awarding of the 2017 Nobel Prize in Physics to Rainer Weiss and Barry C. Barish and Kip S. Thorne ‘for decisive contributions to the LIGO detector and the observation of gravitational waves’. Led by Professor Matthew Bailes, OzGrav has recently launched on one of Australia’s most powerful high performance computers, which will be used to process the data from such events in real time. The new computer called OzSTAR is designed to perform the equivalent of 10,000 calculations for every one of the 100 billion stars in the milky way galaxy, in one second. Such supercomputing capacity and research expertise is necessary to fully grasp the potential of the field of gravitational science, with the first confirmed detection of gravitational waves in 2016.
The gravitational wave detection was quickly followed up with conventional telescopes, which observed a distinctive fireball in space—a truly colossal event, of the kind thought responsible for creating the heavier precious metals like gold, out of more mundane atoms that make up the bulk of matter in the universe. OzGrav is a fundamental part of Australia’s role in this new field, and the international collaboration that is the Advanced Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO). Since 2002, Australian research effort at the LIGO and a range of other gravitational wave-related research has received significant support through a number of ARC funding schemes including the Discovery Projects; Linkage, Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities ; and Future Fellowships schemes. This latest landmark astrophysical discovery involved an international team including dozens of Australian
One step closer to understanding why nerves degenerate
| Making a Differ 6 ence : Outcomes of ARC supported research The next step in this research is to gain further understanding of the interactions between axons and their surrounding tissue, and to identify similar molecules that facilitate the same degenerative process in humans. Image: The tail of a nematode C. elegans, in which the main posterior mechanosensory neuron is highlighted (the blue fluorescence highlights the basement membrane). Due to a mutation in the gene lin-14, the axon is misguided and cannot maintain its structure (breaks), as it is visible as interruption of fluorescence continuity in the longest processes. Ritchie et al., revealed that LIN-14 function within the neuron itself as well as in its surrounding tissues (muscle and skin). Image credit: Fiona Ritchie and Nick Valmas. 10 Their research findings emphasise that complex connections between axons and their surrounding environment are critical for axons to survive later in life. This has opened the door to improving our understanding of axons in humans and created new avenues for researchers seeking to limit nerve degenerative processes. This fundamental discovery has important implications for understanding the underlying biology of neurodegenerative conditions, where nerve axons are damaged. Researchers at The University of Queensland, led by Associate Professor Massimo Hilliard, have identified an important molecule that helps to protect the axons of nerve cells from degeneration. With funding from the ARC Discovery Projects scheme, Professor Hilliard and his team used a transparent roundworm to identify a critical molecule vital to protecting the axon of a nerve cell. The molecule, LIN-14, was found to maintain the integrity of neurons and prevent their degeneration when present in the neuron and in its surrounding tissue.
Breakthrough technique developed to make ultra-thin metal oxides on the surface of liquid gallium, which can then be removed in large quantities either by printing processes or by injecting air into the liquid metal, collecting the metal oxides from the bubble surfaces into naturally formed ultra-thin sheets. The process is scalable, and does not require complex techniques currently in use by industry to create ultra-thin metal oxide sheets. In fact, the researchers describe the process as simple enough to be performed on a kitchen stove.
Research led by Professor Kourosh Kalantar-zadeh and Dr Torben Daeneke, based at RMIT University’s node of the ARC Centre of Excellence in Future Low-Energy Electronics Technology (FLEET) has developed a breakthrough method for creating ultra-thin metal oxide sheets, which have wide applications in today’s electronic and optical devices. The novel and extraordinarily simple process developed by the researchers uses non-toxic liquid alloys of gallium as a reaction medium. The oxide layer forms
As well as greatly simplifying the creation of thin metal oxides, and so making them more widely available to electronics manufacturers, the process also has implications for catalysis, which is the basis of the modern chemical industry, with the potential to reshape how medicines, fertilisers and plastics are made.
Image: This image of a liquid metal ‘slug’ and its clear atom-thick ‘trail’ shows the breakthrough in action. When dissolved in a liquid metal core, certain metals leave behind this clear layer of their oxide, which is no thicker than a few atoms and can be peeled away by touching or rolling. Image credit: RMIT University.
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1 13 Image: Juvenile Tropical Rock Lobsters grown in culture. Image credit: Photo provided by The ARC Research Hub for Commercial Development of Rock Lobster Culture Systems. 12 | Making a Difference : Outcomes of ARC supported research
13 3 WORKING WITH INDUSTRY AND GENERATING
ECONOMIC IMPACTS
15 RESEARCHERS HELPING RASPBERRY FARMERS TO IMPROVE YIELD AND QUALITY 16 RESEARCHERS GROW WORLD-FIRST PANAMA DISEASE-RESISTANT BANANAS 17 UNLOCKING THE FOOD VALUE CHAIN 18 WORLD-FIRST TECHNOLOGY TO SIMPLIFY COMMERCIAL PRODUCTION OF ROCK LOBSTERS 21 LOW COST PRECISION AGRICULTURE FOR AUSSIE FARMERS
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Researchers helping raspberry farmers to improve yield and quality
Insect pollinators significantly contribute to the world’s biodiversity and the provision of ecosystem services within agricultural systems. While it is clear that the yield and quality of three-quarters of global food crops benefit to varying degrees from animal pollination, little is known about exactly which pollinators are effective and how many visits are required for high quality fruit. In a study led by an ARC Discovery Early Career Researcher Award recipient, Dr Romina Rader from the University of New England, researchers evaluated the effectiveness of different pollinators that visit raspberry crops in Coffs Harbour, NSW. They evaluated the number of visits required by honeybees and stingless bees to result in high quality, commercial grade raspberry fruit, and found that an average of seven visits by a honeybee is required for high quality, symmetrical raspberries with few or no defects.
This work is being conducted in collaboration with commercial raspberry growers at Costa Group and the results of these studies are helping farmers to find the sweet spot where honeybees and wild pollinator visits can maximize raspberry fruit yield. The researchers are now collating data to compare honeybee performance against native stingless bees both alone and when the two species are present together.
Image: Raspberries. Image credit: Dr Romina Rader, University of New England.
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Researchers grow world-first Panama disease-resistant bananas
A collaborative research team led by Distinguished Professor James Dale—ARC Discovery Projects scheme grant recipient based at the Queensland University of Technology (QUT), has developed and grown modified Cavendish bananas that are resistant to the devastating soil-borne ‘Panama disease’, Fusarium wilt tropical race 4 (TR4). The team included key research partner Professor Rob Harding as well as ARC Australian Laureate Fellows, Professors Peter Waterhouse and Kerrie Mengersen. TR4 fungus, a disease for which no effective control strategies existed until now, threatens the food security of more than 400 million people around the world who rely on bananas as a source of food, and Australia’s commercial banana industry, which relies on the Cavendish variety of banana. The commercial plant is propagated asexually, so has very little genetic variety. Working with industry partner, Lamanna Bananas Pty Ltd, the researchers developed transgenic banana plants with resistance to TR4. To improve the banana’s disease resistance, the researchers added a gene taken from a wild banana, and in a field trial the modified bananas showed robust resistance, with one new variant remaining completely disease free. Image: QUT Distinguished Professor James Dale holding a Panama disease resistant banana plant. Image credit: Queensland University of Technology. Image: Stock image—Two bunch of banana on the tree. Image credit: iStock.com/rue015.
The research is a major step towards protecting the US$12 billion Cavendish global export business, which is under serious threat from the virulent TR4 disease.
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Unlocking the food value chain An ARC Industrial Transformation Research Hub at The University of Melbourne is helping the food industry create winning food products, while keeping one step ahead of food counterfeiters. Led by Professor Frank Dunshea and Hollis Ashman, Unlocking the food value chain: Australian food industry transformation for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) markets—or the Food Value Chain Research Hub—piloted workshops in 2017 with Australian companies that export their products overseas and faced damage from counterfeiters. The ARC Research Hub built a database of available counterfeiting technologies, and supplemented it with newly-developed anti-counterfeit tactics, to create bespoke anti-counterfeit strategies for individual food products and markets. The strategies included immediate defence methods, as well as packaging, product, marketing, and operational changes designed to provide future protection. counterfeiters watch to see how successful they are. Before that time, a wise company will seek out the best strategy to protect their product, including graphics built into package design, barcodes for track-and-trace, scannable QR codes, radio-frequency identification (RFID), specialty inks, or even harmless chemical markers added to the food itself. Typically, companies that place products in the marketplace have six months’ grace while The ARC Research Hub has also developed ‘food emotion’ technology, a portable app to more accurately predict if consumers will like new food products, which reduces the need for expensive and extensive market testing. The food-emotion technology uses cameras to measure eye movement, heart rate, body temperature,
and micro-facial movements of consumers while they are tasting foods, or considering a new packaging design.
Making a Difference : Outcomes of ARC supported research | Database’ of 18 food categories to understand what drives ‘premiumness’ in these categories (i.e. product, package, ingredients, provenance, channel and occasion) in both Australia and China. 17 Image: Example of image and video analysis to automatically extract: face, eyes and pupil dilation; heart rate dynamics; Infrared thermography; and micro-facial movements. Image credit: The University of Melbourne. In 2017, the ARC Research Hub used this technology to help Australian beer and sparkling wine producers screen existing products to better understand what led to success. From consumer responses, the team determined the key attributes, ingredients, and processes that created winning products, enabling the producers to incorporate those attributes in new products. This capability is now being used on a variety of food products in Australia and is being tested to be used globally. In 2018, the ARC Research Hub created a ‘Concept
treatment technologies, specialised larval feeds and engineered mass culture vessels that has for the first time established a working model for future large- scale hatcheries to produce commercial quantities of juvenile rock lobsters. In step with the move towards commercialisation, the project’s intellectual property was transferred into a recently created corporate entity, UTAS-Nexus Aquasciences Pty Ltd (UNA). UNA has provided a vehicle into which partners can invest, and from which commercial and research licenses can be administered. UNA joined the ARC Research Hub as a participating organisation in 2017. Industry partner PFG Group Pty Ltd, a Tasmanian advanced manufacturer of high-end mariculture facilities and equipment, invested in UNA and sublicensed the university’s Australian rights to exploit the technology for tropical and slipper lobster production and has committed to establishing the world’s-first, commercial-scale lobster hatchery in Australia. Leveraging new research, they hope to also develop on-land grow-out facilities. When all hatchery and support systems are completed, direct and indirect employment is estimated to exceed 500 new positions. Rock lobsters are a fast growing and valuable food product in Australia and internationally. The use of the innovative hatchery technology developed in the ARC Research Hub will position Tasmania as the birthplace of a global industry for rock lobster aquaculture. Image: Tropical Rock Lobster phyllosoma grown in culture. Image credit: Photo provided by The ARC Research Hub for Commercial Development of Rock Lobster Culture Systems.
World-first technology will lead to simpler commercial production of rock lobsters Researchers at the University of Tasmania’s ARC Research Hub for Commercial Development of Rock Lobster Culture Systems , led by Associate Professor Greg Smith, and headquartered at the Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies, have developed technology that will enable the commercial scale hatchery production of rock lobsters (also known as spiny lobsters). Until the University of Tasmania’s breakthrough, the complex and fragile larval stages and long life cycle of rock lobsters has made it impossible to produce the species commercially, with the only demonstration of rock lobster production in captivity occurring in small-scale systems. The ARC Research Hub for Commercial Development of Rock Lobster Culture Systems , funded under the ARC Industrial Transformation Research Hubs scheme, has developed innovative solutions to mass culture rock lobsters. These include water
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Low cost precision agriculture for Aussie farmers
New smart aerial drone technology developed by the ARC Industrial Transformation Research Hub for Wheat in a Hot and Dry Climate (ARC Wheat Hub) could literally change the landscape of Australia’s billion-dollar wheat industry, by delivering cost-effective mechanisms for farmers to plan and deliver precise water and nutrients to their crops on a need-by-need basis. Developed by the University of South Australia with the Plant Accelerator at The University of Adelaide and LongReach Plant Breeders, the drone senses a vegetation index—signifying the crop health, moisture and nutrient content, making it easier and more efficient for farmers to manage agricultural land and for breeders to generate new varieties. Until now, drones required an expensive multispectral camera to scan agricultural land and indicate where there is a need for additional irrigation or application of fertiliser to selected crop segments. The new technology delivers detailed information using RGB (red, green, blue) cameras—which is a standard accessory carried by drones. The drone identifies healthy plants exhibiting a high vegetation index—shown as bright green regions—and mature, stressed or dead plants and soil manifesting a low vegetation index are displayed as yellow areas. This data is then processed offline and modelled into useful information through deep learning (or machine learning)—all without the additional cost of a multispectral camera.
Image: Aerial drone flying over wheat field. Image credit: The University of South Australia.
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DEVELOPING INNOVATIVE TECHNOLOGIES 24 THE FUTURE OF ROBOTICS—SEEING AND UNDERSTANDING 25 SUPERLASER TO SAFEGUARD AUSTRALIA 26 NEW NANOMATERIALS OPEN THE DOOR FOR INNOVATIONS 27 STRETCHABLE METAL OXIDE FILMS HERALD A REVOLUTION IN WEARABLE ELECTRONICS
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Making a Difference : Outcomes of ARC supported research | 2 Image: Australian Centre for Robotic Vision Challenge winning robot (image cropped). Image credit: Queensland University of Technology. Making a Difference : Outcomes of ARC supported research | 2233
The future of robotics— seeing and understanding
Image: Australian Centre for Robotic Vision director, QUT Professor Peter Corke with members of the Centre’s Amazon Picking Challenge
team and Cartman, their Challenge winning robot. Image credit: Queensland University of Technology.
The Australian Centre for Robotic Vision (ACRV)—an ARC Centre of Excellence led by Professor Peter Corke and headquartered at Queensland University of Technology (QUT)—received the $80,000USD first prize at the 2017 Amazon Robotics Challenge in Japan with its custom-built robot. While robotics is about machines that interact with the physical world, computer vision is about analysing and understanding the world through images. Robotic vision expands the capabilities of robots, allowing them to see and understand the world in which they are working. The ARC Centre of Excellence, together with its partners, is leading the world working to develop new robotic vision technologies, creating robots that can see, understand and interact. The research team at ACRV took on the competition, designed to solve a key robotics problem for the commercial enterprise Amazon—the ability to pick up
items and stow them in boxes, in an unstructured environment. While Amazon is able to quickly package and ship millions of items through its warehouses each year, the commercial technologies for the use of robotics are still being developed. ACRV’s innovative solution, ‘Cartman’, can move along three axes, like a gantry crane, with a rotating gripper that allows the robot to pick up items using either suction or a simple two-finger grip. Cartman performed well, with the challenge combining object recognition, grasping and error detection and recovery outperforming 74 other teams during the competition in Japan. This is just one way the ACRV is applying its technologies in robotics and advanced computer vision to solve real-world challenges for industry, as well as many other applications such as the provision of healthcare, for sustainable food production, and the monitoring of the environment.
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Superlaser to safeguard Australia
Making a Difference : Outcomes of ARC supported research | sensing, bio imaging, medicine and quantum science. In 2017, Professor Richard Mildren received the Defence Science and Technology Eureka Prize for Outstanding Science in Safeguarding Australia for the development of the diamond-based high power lasers and ‘superlaser’ technology. 25 A world-leading study led by Professor Richard Mildren, former ARC Future Fellow based at Macquarie University, has developed a ‘superlaser’ using an ultra-pure diamond that concentrates the energy of multiple laser beams into one. The power of multiple laser beams is harnessed in the diamond through a co-operative effect of the crystal that causes intense light beams to transfer their power into a selected direction. The wavelength of the laser beam is also changed, conferring other advantages to the technology. Being able to do this in a compact solid, and at very high power, has real-world and high-stakes applications, such as management of space debris or defence, as well as remote
The high power lasers could be used to combat threats to security from the increased proliferation of low-cost drones and missile technology. They also have an application in de-orbiting space junk using ground-based lasers, and in powering space vehicles.
Image: Diamond beam combining amplifier: Three input beams intersect in the diamond efficiently transfer their power to a fourth input ‘seed’ beam. Image credit: Ondrej Kitzler.
Dr Rahmani also collaborated with Associate Professor Antonio Tricoli, also at The Australian National University, to develop ultra-small, ultra-light wearable sensors that can detect diseases such as diabetes. The sensors—50 times thinner than a human hair— combine with very small gold nanostructures with semiconductors to create unique properties that enable the detection of gas molecules at very low concentrations. In this way, the sensors can measure very small amounts of gases coming through skin and breath. The research opens the door to the development of wearable devices that allows doctors to medically diagnose people’s health in real time, one day eliminating the need for blood tests and many other invasive procedures. Their size and versatility means they also have the potential to be integrated into different technologies for a multitude of other applications, from farming right through to space exploration. New nanomaterials open the door for innovations
Image: Dr Moshen Rahmani, Associate Professor Antonio Tricoli and Zelio Fusco (pictured left to right). Image credit: Lannon Harley, The Australian National University. An ARC Discovery Early Career Researcher Award recipient at The Australian National University, Dr Mohsen Rahmani, has developed new nanomaterials Dr Rahmani has designed a nanomaterial that can reflect or transmit light on demand with temperature control, opening the door to technology that protects astronauts or satellites in space from harmful radiation. The material is so thin that hundreds of layers could fit on the tip of a needle and could be applied to any surface. The new material could also be tailored for other light spectrums including visible light, opening up a whole array of innovations, including architectural and energy-saving applications—for instance, a window that can turn into a mirror in a bathroom, or control the amount of light passing through your house windows in different seasons. that have remarkable properties.
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Stretchable metal oxide films herald a revolution in wearable electronics
Associate Professor Madhu Bhaskaran from RMIT University—an ARC Discovery Early Career Researcher Award recipient and winner of the 2017 Eureka Prize for Outstanding Early Career Researcher —is developing materials that incorporate novel stretchable and wearable electronics. Professor Bhaskaran’s research team is revolutionising the field of wearable, transparent electronics by embedding electronic devices in nano-structured metal oxide films within flexible and transparent biocompatible elastomers. These novel materials can be used for wearable ultraviolet (UV) sensors, gas detection, and flat optics that would remove the need for bulky camera lenses. For example, by monitoring the amount of UV exposure a person has during the day, and producing an instant report that loads to a smartphone device, such electronics could help reduce the occurrence of skin cancer. Associate Professor Bhaskaran’s research has also benefited from several ARC Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities grants, awarded to collaborations involving researchers at RMIT University, The University of Melbourne and Monash University, for facilities that fabricate, image and characterise nanostructured materials.
Image: Associate Professor Madhu Bhaskaran. Image credit: RMIT University.
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Shark-deterrent surfboards
The team is continuing to complete testing of the various configurations in different light conditions, and working to commercialise the technology. It is possible the technology could be extended beyond surfboards for use on other watercraft. Associate Professor Hart is working with industry partner Smart Marine Systems (SMS), as well as Taronga Zoo, the NSW Department of Primary Industries, Flinders University, The University of Western Australia and Oceans Research in South Africa. This builds on earlier work with partner SMS to develop camouflage wetsuits—using patented designs based on Associate Professor Hart’s research on the shark visual system—that have now been commercialised.
Assisted by ARC Linkage Projects scheme funding, Macquarie University researchers, led by Associate Professor Nathan Hart, are developing a radical shark-deterrent surfboard. They have perfected a system of light-emitting diode (LED) lights to put on the bottom of a surfboard that works in an entirely different way to currently available electronic shark repellents. The pattern made by the lights breaks up the tell-tale silhouette of a surfer that might be attractive to white sharks. The project was based on the recent discovery that white sharks do not attack certain counter-illuminated (light emitting) seal-shaped decoys, and used new information about shark vision to understand why this ‘camouflage’ is so successful.
Extensive field tests of the LED system in waters with white sharks were found to be highly effective in preventing the sharks from attacking. When the light system was attached, the research found that sharks didn’t attack; when it was not attached, they didn’t hesitate.
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Making a Difference : Outcomes of ARC supported research | 29 Image credit: Associate Professor Nathan Hart, Macquarie University. Making a Difference : Outcomes of ARC supported research | 29 Image: White shark (Carcharodon carcharias) attacking a control seal-shaped decoy without the new counter-illumination technology attached.
Image: Underwater view of a surfer Image credit: iStock.com/RugliG
| Making a Difference : Outcomes of ARC supported research 3 30 | Making a Difference
MANAGEMENT 31 Image: Adams Flat. Image courtesy: Phil O’Brien.
ADVANCING ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE AND
32 PRESERVING MAMMALS IN NORTHERN AUSTRALIAN SAVANNAHS 33 CENTRE OF EXCELLENCE HARNESSING THE POWER OF WARM CLIMATE CROPS 34 RESEARCHERS UNCOVER MERCURY CONTAMINATION RISK 35 RESEARCHERS WORKING TO PROTECT OUR WETLANDS 36 NEW MICROBE CAPABILITY UNCOVERED IN ANTARCTIC CONDITIONS
Making a Difference : Outcomes of ARC supported research | Making a Difference : Outcomes of ARC supported research | 3311
Preserving mammals in northern Australian savannahs
Research by an ARC Future Fellow, Dr Brett Murphy, at Charles Darwin University is informing environmental management practices to stem the decline of a range of small mammals across northern Australian savannahs. Frequent, intense fires open up and simplify the understorey—thereby facilitating hunting of small native mammals by feral cats. Dr Murphy, supported by his previous ARC Discovery Early Career Researcher Award , looked at the threatened brush-tailed rabbit-rat, Conilurus penicillatus , a species which once occurred more widely at Melville Island off the coast of the Northern Territory, but is
now limited only to areas where feral cats are rarely detected and shrub density is high. His research suggested that feral cats are driving C. penicillatus towards extinction on Melville Island, and hence have likely been a significant driver in the decline of this species in northern Australia more broadly. He found that the impact of feral cats was strongly influenced by vegetation structure. Dr Murphy is now building upon his research through his current ARC Future Fellowship, which is focussed on exploring the drivers of biodiversity and impacts of environmental change in tropical savannahs.
In response to Dr Murphy’s research findings, fire management regimes that promote a denser, shrubby understorey, to help conserve a range of declining small native mammals, are now being trialled in the region, and in Kakadu National Park.
| Making a Difference : Outcomes of ARC supported research Image: An early dry season fire in northern Australian tropical savannahs. Image credit: Charles Darwin University. Image: A Brush-tailed Rabbit-rat (Conilurus penicillatus) on Melville Island. Image credit: Hugh Davies. 32
Image: CETP researchers Fiona Koller and Associate Professor Oula Ghannoum are looking for plant traits that enhance the ability of our cereal crops to cope with warmer, drier conditions. Image credit: Charles Tambiah, The Australian National University.
Centre of Excellence harnessing the power of warm climate crops
Making a Difference : Outcomes of ARC supported research | Researchers at the ARC Centre of Excellence believe that understanding and harnessing these photosynthesis pathways is the key to the next ‘Green Revolution’ to secure our food supplies in a rapidly warming and more climate-variable world. 33 The CETP is a research collaboration that brings together prominent scientists from The Australian National University, Western Sydney University, The University of Sydney, The University of Queensland, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, and International Rice Research Institute, to apply a mix of advanced scientific techniques to boost the productivity of cereal crops. Researchers at the Western Sydney University node are focusing on discovering the mechanisms that make warm climate crops, such as maize and sorghum, more productive to translate these traits into more commonly grown cool climate crops, such as wheat and rice. Associate Professor Oula Ghannoum, a Chief Investigator at CETP and based at Western Sydney University, has demonstrated that photosynthesis in warm climate plants does not respond to temperature as was previously thought. This has implications for warm climate crops that are specially adapted to thrive in hot and dry environments. The ARC Centre of Excellence for Translational Photosynthesis (CETP), led by Professor Robert Furbank, aims to boost the yields and performance of the world’s most common cereal crops to feed a population that will soon hit nine billion people. The concept of ‘translational photosynthesis’ is about boosting crop productivity. One approach is to transfer the superior traits of warm climate crops, such as sorghum and maize, into cool climate crops including rice, wheat and barley.
Researchers uncover mercury contamination risk
| Making a Difference : Outcomes of ARC supported research Image: Associate Professor Amanda Reichelt-Brushett. Image: Tailings transport into creeks, Buru Island, Eastern Indonesia. 34 New research undertaken by Associate Professor Amanda Reichelt-Brushett at Southern Cross University, and supported with funding from the ARC Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities (LIEF) scheme, is highlighting the environmental impacts of mercury contamination from small-scale mining. Small-scale gold mining using mercury is practised by an estimated 50 million people around the world, including many local regions of the Asia-Pacific, and is increasing in response to higher gold prices. Researchers identified that there is a growing risk that ecosystems and fisheries could become dangerously contaminated with mercury, leading to serious health problems from the consumption of contaminated seafood by locals or visitors to the region.
An inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer, purchased with support from an ARC LIEF grant, was used to analyse seafood and sediment samples from a region of the Maluku Islands in eastern Indonesia where such small-scale gold mining is common. The researchers discovered mercury concentrations in sediment of up to 82 times higher than recommended safe levels, and elevated concentrations in seafood, fish, molluscs and crustaceans for sale in the local fish markets. The researchers are now working with local government and environmental agencies to balance the complex social and economic issues associated with small-scale mining and the risks to human health.
Researchers working to protect our wetlands
Making a Difference : Outcomes of ARC supported research | The research has resulted in practical design and management recommendations for industry, that is already being put into practice by wetland managers to design flow control strategies to minimise climate impacts on wetlands of the Hunter estuary. Image: Associate Professor Jose Rodriguez and Associate Professor Patricia Saco in the mangroves. Image credit: The University of Newcastle. 35 Around the world, coastal wetlands provide flood protection, erosion control, and are important habitats for wildlife, which in turn supports commercial fisheries. ARC-funded research led by Associate Professor Jose Rodriguez and ARC Future Fellow Associate Professor Patricia Saco, based at The University of Newcastle is qualifying how coastal wetlands are increasingly under threat due to sea-level rise and development pressure. Many wetlands have roads, culverts, bridges and levies, which have been overlooked in previous assessments of vulnerability to sea-level rise. By studying a wetland in the Hunter estuary, the researchers have demonstrated that coastal wetlands in developed areas of the world will disappear faster than previously thought, due to these human impacts. The interdisciplinary research team, which involved engineers and ecologists, estimate that mangrove and saltmarsh wetlands in the Hunter estuary may disappear in the next 80 years with current sea-level rise trends. By qualifying the threat to our coastal wetlands, and with support from the Hunter Local Land Services (formerly Hunter Catchment Management Trust), the researchers have helped identify wetland flow-management strategies to increase resilience to sea-level rise and assess their carbon sequestration potential. Professor Neil Saintilan from Macquarie University also contributed to the research.
New microbe capability uncovered in antarctic conditions
Researchers—led by ARC Future Fellow, Associate Professor Belinda Ferrari from The University of New South Wales—have advanced environmental science by discovering that microbes in Antarctica have a previously unknown ability to scavenge hydrogen, carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide from the air to stay alive in the extreme conditions. Researchers have previously wondered how the microbes can survive in the Antarctic climate, where there is little water, the soils are very low in organic carbon and there is limited capacity to produce energy via photosynthesis during the winter darkness.
Associate Professor Ferrari and her Australasian research collaborators—including ARC Discovery Early Career Researcher Award recipient, Dr Christopher Greening from Monash University—found that while Antarctica is perhaps one of the most extreme environments on the planet, its cold, dark and dry desert regions are home to a remarkably rich diversity of microbial communities that have evolved mechanisms to produce both the energy and carbon required to survive from the consumption of atmospheric gases.
This discovery uncovers a new understanding about the existence of life in nutrient-deficient, climatically and physically extreme environments, and opens up the possibility of exploring if this alternative energy source is more widespread in Antarctica and elsewhere. It also has implications for the search for life on other planets, suggesting extra-terrestrial microbes could also rely on trace atmospheric gases for survival.
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Making a Difference : Outcomes of ARC supported research | 37 Image: Adams Flat. Image courtesy: Phil O’Brien. Making a Difference : Outcomes of ARC supported research | 37
| Making a Difference : Outcomes of ARC supported research | Making a Difference : Outcomes of ARC supported research 3388 38 SUPPORTING INDIGENOUS RESEARCH 40 INDIGENOUS EAR HEALTH AND PHONOLOGICAL AWARENESS 41 THE STORY OF OUTBACK NATIVE MOUNTED POLICE 43 SONGLINES—TRACKING THE SEVEN SISTERS 44 REIGNITING THE NOONGAR LANGUAGE THROUGH SONG 45 UNCOVERING A NEW HISTORY OF AUSTRALIAN HABITATION
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